For the sunny side of life

The package is in addition to the camera, battery, charger, Quick Start Guide and software, a neck strap and a lens cap. An SD memory card you have to buy yet. How to attach the neck strap can be tapped in the lens cover once you are at a loss easily. One end of the cord is already connected to the other there is no eyelet on the camera. Look in the manual provides a remedy or not. Here is indicated on which side of the attachment in the manual can be found on the CD-Rom. Staff will then, that there is no ear for it to be mounted on the neck strap. Thanks. This has quite still fit in the Quick Start Guide.

The camera is surprisingly light and much smaller than it looks in pictures, but by no means small. They can be put on the hand, but the massive 30x lens ensures a proper stem - to host bag is as unthinkable. Somewhere between compact and bridge size. Advantage of this is that the keys are on the camera back for even greater and much easier to use than your shirt pocket snapping.

Adjustment / Starting =================

The battery is charged after two hours. When you first start you have to make the usual settings: date, time, time zone, daylight saving time, then you can get started. The service creates myself very surprised. I do not know if it's because I had one or the other Canon in hand or if the layout is particularly well done, but a more intuitive and comprehensible camera I had not been in the hands - and there were quite a few ,

You can turn on the camera via the on / off button or the playback button. Via the menu button you done over two tabs, the default settings (Digital Zoom, tones, language numbering, etc), recording-related settings (white balance, recording format, - quality) on the Function Set button in the middle of the control circuit. In the latter, the menus on the left and below, while the viewfinder image "will appear in the background. In the same way it has with the Postitionsbuttons the pad direct access to adjust the Isowertes, flash, self-timer and macro mode. In the left is the button for deliberate About - / underexposure, next for image reproduction Moreover, surprisingly also a button with a red dot for video recording -.. there on the scroll wheel up so a separate video mode In practice, not bad at all, you want to take occasional short record a video switch without anything want to / need to.

============================== Modes

Turning the dial up, there is the operating manual, aperture setting, shutter speed setting, Program mode with automatic exposure and fully automatic. In addition, there is a Scenerymodus with the camera adjusts to specific shooting conditions: Portrait Mode, Face Self Timer (start self-timer when an extra face is detected), Lowlightmodus (4 pixels are combined into one, and so at the expense of image size, the sensitivity pushed), snow - and Fireworks mode.

Next there is an effect mode in which you can do trick shots with Live Preview: Fisheye, Miniature, Toy Camera, Monochrome, Posters, and more vibrant colors and aforementioned camera mode. A unique feature of the special type of stealth mode. This all sounds / tones and the flash will be disabled. What is supposed to be good well ...

Hands-On ================================

30x optical zoom is quite a number. Initially, the handling is also quite used to. In a small zoom movement it zooms quite slow on and off. The zoom speed changes then but not linear. If you come during zoom lever beyond a certain point, the zoom suddenly gallops so fast that it almost frightened.

The autofocus works quite fast and reliable, the more you zoom, but more and more he gets the more problems, the darker it is. That's when the camera so, but affects at 30x of course, much stronger. By the by, is recommended, in advance once sharply noted before you completely zoomed. There is also the function to mark the target in advance, so as not so easy to lose it when zooming out of the display area.

Unless you want to photograph close-ups of the toenails or the spider web on the ceiling in the stairway, crying 30x Zoom formally for outdoor use. In the previous SX-series Canon has ensured that we also do not want to use for indoor shots Camera: weak light lens, poor Isoqualität and recycling time to fall asleep. When SX500IS Canon has rectified properly. While the lens is still very faint, which are almost always super zooms, but the initial charging of the flash is only faster, but you can now also use him now several times without much interruption in succession.

Double-edged is the theme Isoqualität. Although the quality of the images has improved markedly and supplies to ISO400 results that are really useful, unfortunately it rarely achieved but also so indoors without flash shutter speeds that are without shaking and the stabilizer is not miraculous. Add to this that the noise of the 16MP sensor does not improve the situation. If one is forced indoors without a flash and to work without a tripod, the only possibility is to use the special lowlight mode. Although the result is not great, but at least it provides so as to limit the effects of camera shake.

Sobering the test was outside the rainy afternoon. At ISO100, which apart from the sensor noise, delivers beautiful detailed images, was the shutter speed and the wide angle end in the twentieth-second range, which enables Image Stabilizer and a steady hand just barely stable images. The strength of the camera, the large zoom, can be there without a tripod or rest not play. Even at ISO 400, it was only in the fortieth seconds range, fully zoomed out of his hand impossible.

Better, it proposes in line with expectations in bright sun. In the wild squirrels / birds in the city sitting zoom back the church clock outside the café, here makes the camera really fun. In almost all cases you can work with ISO100 and must increase the sensitivity only in shady areas. Reflections do not bother especially, the only downside is that the harder contrasts let in sun clearly chromatic aberrations occur.

Convincing is the Auto white balance. Whether indoors or outdoors, the colors are very natural. Just inside itself much more expensive cameras are bad.

For Video function allows you to not say much in addition. It is only "720p and stereo, the camera only mono outputs during playback, otherwise it's the same problem of photosensitivity is worth mentioning that the Miniature Effect can also be applied when shooting video -. What is a good cliffhanger of the battery power.

Battery performance ============================

The factory specification is 195 shots, so rather below average. If one makes to look at a lot of pictures in a short period without a flash without it big, you will create more. Looking at pictures more often and longer it will be less linear. Still less, if you live effects such as fisheye, miniature used etc., in which the processor is charged significantly more.
On my first test in which I often the recordings controlled in the display and have been shut down and special effects, I got almost 120 shots wide.
As with any camera (and phone) but video recordings are the most extreme battery eaters. Even shorter Videos reduce battery performance significantly, which can be by connecting the miniature effect worse. If we make this happy, you should buy several extra batteries. One is anyway as a backup when the camera duty - I myself had bought an already before the camera had arrived. Fortunately, the original batteries are not overly expensive, and there is good cheap Third Party batteries.

Conclusion ===================================

What a pity. Canon has facelift operated with the SX500IS and weaknesses in flash and ISO range improved white balance and menu navigation are exemplary. Really shine they can but only when the sun.

-------------------------------------- Alternatives

If there is to be Super Zoom, the Canon PowerShot SX50 HS Digital Camera (12.1 MP, 50x opt. Zoom, 7.1 cm (2.8 inch) display, Full HD, HDMI) can be black. Here is Canon as you do it right and deliver much of what you miss when SX500s: 50x zoom, better ISO performance, swiveling display, high battery, RAW ... but in a much larger enclosure, twice as heavy in weight and wallet load ,

With Panasonic, you can also stop by, have more experience in this particular segment. Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ150EGK Digital Camera (12MP, 24x opt. Zoom, 7.5 cm (3 inch) screen, image stabilization, Full HD video) black

The Sony DSC-HX20VB Cyber-shot digital camera (18.2 megapixels, 20x opt. Zoom, 7.5 cm (3 inch) screen, Sweep Panorama) is black with the image quality to be no better than the SX500IS, but has the sophisticated technology in order to bring better results in low light and you can still shoot pictures with her when the Canon of the battery is empty already long: 320 images under CIPA.